


Dissipate

by nicoskneecaps



Category: Fall Out Boy, I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Band), Mindless Self Indulgence (Band), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M, McDonald's and Detective Work, Minor Mikey Way/Pete Wentz, POV First Person, Small Towns, Underage Smoking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Witchcraft, fear halsey with a stapler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23890978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoskneecaps/pseuds/nicoskneecaps
Summary: Dissipate, to disappear or cause to disappearThis story is inspired loosely on unsolved crime cases and my own personal experiences. While this is a work of fiction there are many dark elements in here. Please proceed with caution.
Relationships: Lindsey Ballato/Gerard Way, Mikey Way/Pete Wentz
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Rain, again

The final bell of the day pings loudly throughout the overly crowded grand hell hole that is Crow’s View High School. My last class is world history which means that if I hurry fast enough through classroom door then the older-than-time-itself-and-probably-about-to-reduce-to  
-dust-at-any-minute teacher won’t stop me to rant about how “Kids these days never respect their elders.” and all that. Thankfully, I succeed. I move quickly through the crowds of teenagers that engulf the hallways while trying not to smell the lingering putrid smell of men’s deodorant from yesterday’s explosion in the hall. That’s a memory I’d best not think about. I weave quickly through the students in the parking lot moving in no particular hurry to get to their cars or meet their parents. Eventually I reach the front doors and am greeted with a chilly gust of wind and the loud pounding of rain onto the cracked and broken pavement path leading to the lot. Shivering a bit, I zip up my jacket and pull on what one of my best friends, Joe, affectionately has named “the Trucker Hat”. I stand under the usual deflated-looking birch tree on the front lawn of the school and wait for my ride home. I look out at the damp parking lot filled with minivans and angry-looking socialites frantically searching for dry spaces before deeming it to be nothing special. That’s what this town is, nothing special. I look down at my grungy black converse, slightly ripped up blue jeans, and dark gray jacket with holes near the end of the sleeves before realizing maybe I’m nothing special too, that’s probably why my parents moved here in the first place. 

“Trick stop staring at your shoes.” A calm, but slightly energized male voice speaks to me from my right, so I snap my head over to the owner of the voice. To my non existent surprize, a sophomore with a bright red jacket, black skinny jeans, white and black converse with doodles on the toes, eyeliner that was starting to roll down his face in thick black drops from the rain, pale skin, messy black hair sticking out from his jacket hood, and milk chocolate colored eyes stood under the drooping tree next to me patiently waiting for us to head to his mom’s car. “What? Oh yeah, sorry Pete.” I half mumble to myself as we head into the now puddle covered parking lot to search for his mom. After a few minutes Pete slides into the front seat and I contently climb into the back.  
“Hi Mrs. Wentz.” I dump my backpack by my feet.  
“Hello, Patrick.” Her voice is calm like Pete’s, but it sounds more tired and almost distant.  
“Hi Mom.” Pete mumbles while quickly trying to pull off his hoodie that’s practically soaked. Mrs. Wentz exits onto the main road towards my house as some pop station plays over the radio. I look at the raindrops rolling down the foggy windows while humming along to some song by the Chainsmokers that has been playing multiple times a day this week. After driving past several cornfields and a few pissed off drivers, we pull into my neighborhood. A few young kids play in the street, but quickly disperse as we get closer to my house. She parks in my driveway and I take it as my queue to get out. I scoop my bag off of the floor and open the car door. “Thanks Mrs. Wentz. Bye Pete.” He waves to me and his mom responds with a nod and “Anytime, Patrick.” I jog up to the front door while the Wentzs pull out of the driveway and down the hill towards their house a few blocks away. I pull my keys out my pocket and finally open the lock after a few failed tries. 

As I kick off my shoes and walk up the old wooden steps, loud creaking and stale air greet me. I head down a short hallway and pleasantly find that no one’s home at the moment besides me and my dog. And that’s exactly who I find sleeping on top of my bed. “Charlie get off-” I set my bag on the floor and sit next to him causing my bed to wail. The mattress is old and has definitely seen better days. The springs are ancient and make a terrible screeching sound. Someday the springs will shoot through the mattress material like a set of teeth, but until then I deal with it. Charlie lazily opens his drooping eyelids and looks over at me with some unreadable expression. I pull out my phone and go through my notifications as I pet him. A few minutes stumble into a few hours before I actually start doing my homework because really, who wants to work on geometry problems? 

I’m in the middle of my science homework when my phone shows a text from my mom telling me that she’ll be home a little bit later and a text from Joe. I tap on his message revealing the timestamp from an hour ago and a brief text of how he left his flip flops at my house, again. I tell him I’ll get them to him tomorrow and keep working. 

The night goes relatively smoothly after that. The night’s the same as all the others, my family comes home late, we eat dinner, watch tv, and we all go to bed. The same it's been for the past 7 years with a few rare exceptions here and there, but even then those exceptions are far and few between. After settling down in a loose t-shirt and pajama pants I roll over onto my side earning an unhappy yelp from Charlie and another loud groan from my bed. I tap through a few dozen more notifications from a group chat I’m not all that active in. After exiting the ungodly amount of messages I accidentally tap on the conversation with Joe earlier. Nothing. He didn't even leave me on read. He probably saw it in his notifications or was asleep by the time the message got through. I sent it around 10:15, so it’s possible. Sometimes Joe has the sleeping schedule of an elderly grandfather. I put aside any possible fears and opened the YouTube app on my phone and after a few videos of nothing in particular I felt my vision growing blurry and dark until I completely fell asleep.

The next morning was kind of a blur and I can only really remember waking up tired and getting to school. It was overcast and a bit windy when I entered through the front doors; the wind bit at my nose and my ankles before I found my way inside. My feet went on auto pilot and began walking towards the staircase I meet my usual friends in the morning at while my mind drifts off thinking about whether I finished my math homework last night or not. The drab white walls of the school with assorted dents and scratches in them give the illusion that they’re watching me walk down the hallway. I decide to walk faster until I reach the stairs. The typical scene greets me as I arrive. Pete sits on one of the steps with four other people talking about something I can’t really seem to pick out the topic of. Two seniors that I recognize immediately sit on the step below him. Lindsey who has medium length black hair pulled into pigtails near the bottom of her head, a black jean jacket that hangs off one of her shoulders, blue overalls with various colored paint splatters on it, a black and white striped shirt, mismatched socks, light makeup, and muddy boots and sits to the left of her boyfriend Gerard who has short black hair, messy eyeliner, an oversized elephant gray sweater, faded blue jeans, a gray and black striped scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, and white converse. Another sophomore, Gerard’s younger brother Mikey, sits to the right of Pete, who swapped his bright red jacket for a black one today, listens more to the conversation rather than talking. He’s never been the most social person, but no one really minds. He has black and white glasses, dark brown hair that sticks out of his black beanie at weird angles, a dark t-shirt with a band I’d never heard of printed across the shirt, black jeans, a silver necklace that disappears into his shirt, and muddy tennis shoes. He has a jacket wadded up behind him that he rests against. The four of them are more grouped towards the right of the stairs except the only other freshman here named Ashley. She basically took up the whole step below Lindsey and Gerard by laying down on it. She has bright blue hair in a pixie cut, a cropped black sweater with what looks like the Pizza Planet logo from Toy Story on it, light blue jean shorts with sewn on flower patches, gray and white off brand shoes, about three small gold rings on each of ears, and her phone held over her head. Upon seeing me Ashley waves to me and Pete scoots over to let me have a seat on the stairs. I drop my backpack near the bottom of the stairs along with everyone else’s and claim my spot next to Pete. It finally registers in my mind that someone is missing as I sit down. As if he could read my thoughts, Mikey looks at me with his usual unreadable expression and asks with a soft voice “Where’s Joe?” I take a brief look around at everyone as if that would make him appear out of thin air. Unfortunately, that yielded no results.  
“I uh...don’t really know. I was supposed to give him his flip flops though. He’s probably just late.” Mikey nods and bites his lip while looking down the hall at a framed painting a student made. Lindsey starts a new conversation over the Twilight movies which gets everyone talking. I try my best to say something a few times related to the topic although I’ve never seen the movies beyond the first one, which Pete forced me to watch sometime last winter. Shortly after, the bell rings and we all scramble towards our pile of bags except for Ashley (she accidentally drops her phone on her face). Gerard disappears down the science wing with a coffee cup clutched tightly in his hands. Lindsey and Mikey head down the hallway leading to a flight of stairs guiding down to the music rooms. Ashley heads down the hallway towards the cluster of math classrooms and Pete and I walk upstairs. Pete starts rambling about how his soccer practice is probably going to be cancelled since the weather isn’t particularly the best right now though I’m not quite sure of all of the things he says. By the time we’re at the top of the stairs he pokes my arm. “Oh huh?” I blink a few times before looking over at him.  
“Is something wrong, you’ve been pretty spacy this morning.” He tries to keep his voice from sounding sad, but some obvious concern weaves its way into his words.  
“Just worried I guess.” I push my glasses further up my nose and meet his eyes.  
“Joe’s fine, he’s probably sick or late.” He reassures.  
“Yeah. You’re right.” Pete’s slightly worried expression morphs into a warm smile.  
“Yeah, I know.” I punch his arm lightly as we walk into our english class, putting aside my fears .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A million thank yous to my friend Machie who helped me with some of the revisions for this chapter. It really made all the difference <3


	2. Cotton

The school day was filled with irrational thoughts swimming around in my head which threaten to spill out every time I opened my mouth. Time in class moved slower than the snails I used to watch in my backyard when I was a kid. Lunch was awkward, but the only one who seemed to notice was Lindsey who gave me a sympathetic look and tried to invite me into the conversation the others seemed to be engaging in. While I appreciated the gesture, it just didn’t feel the same without Joe here to piss off the people sitting at other tables with his loud yet contagious laugh or the occasional sex joke. The whole table just seemed too quiet. It felt wrong since we’re usually the loudest in the cafeteria. Well, besides the small group of guys a few tables away who usually end up causing a bit of a scene. Especially the one guy who’s name starts with a “B”. I think he enjoys all the attention.

I poke at my half eaten burrito, if you can even call it that, and check my phone for the fifth time today. I tap on to my conversation with Joe while biting my lip. Absolutely nothing. Even if he left me on read I'd be at least a little more at ease. Pete told me not to worry, but I can feel my anxiety creeping into my throat. He has a different lunch period, so I give in and send a message to our dead DM. _I miss your stupid face._ No. _Hey, are you alright? I kind of miss-_ Nope, that's worse. My fingers hover over the keyboard of my phone before deciding on _You alive?_. Figuring a fast response is the least likely thing I'm going to get, besides a better burrito, I slide my phone into my jacket pocket. The “burrito” went from lukewarm to just plain cold which left me feeling not so hungry anymore. With that I dumped my trash and continued on with my impossibly slow Wednesday. 

The rest of the day carried on just the same as all the others except the day just had a different name than yesterday. I waited for Pete to pick me up except it wasn’t raining today, just windy and overcast. I trudged through the rest of the day until the sun pulled its blinding head out of the sky to make way for the moon. 11:30pm glares at me from my phone screen in an almost judgemental way. We both know I shouldn’t be awake while my parents snore in the room across from me and a sliver of moonlight slithers out from under the cheap Walmart curtains my mom bought last year. At least Charlie isn’t judging me. If anything he’s judging the corner of my room he turned his head to stare at with his big brown eyes. His breathing is loud, but I wish it was just my dog’s breath that was keeping me awake. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. It would be in my best interest to try to shut my thoughts up and just sleep. But I just can’t. 

The next morning goes the same, it’s just a different day. I go on autopilot until reaching the stairs. After lazily tossing my backpack down I practically collapse onto the space next to Pete. My eyelids threaten to permanently shut every time I blink.  
“What’s wrong?” Pete asked but it sounded like more of a demand than a question. I just shrug as a small yawn escapes me. Pete lets out a frustrated sigh.  
“Is this about Joe?” No use hiding it. I nod allowing some of my hair to tumble down in front of my face. Pete sighs again, this time with relief, and I can feel him staring.  
"Did you even sleep last night?" Three hours counts, right?  
"Sort of?" I tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ears only for them to fall back out defiantly. Mikey taps his water bottle against my knee with a sympathetic look on his typically neutral face. I mumble a quick thanks before taking a small sip. Unfortunately my head still feels overcrowded almost as though someone stuffed cotton into my brain. 

The bell rings, but it sounds like it’s underwater. My body goes on autopilot while my mind attempts to grasp what’s even happening around me.

The remainder of the day goes by the same as yesterday, albeit not in a good way. Upon reaching my room I collapse onto my bed. Charlie lets out a small yelp as the mattress wails. My left sock starts sliding slowly down my foot, but I can’t find the energy to care about pulling it back up. My glasses dig into my face and my phone buzzes loudly from my jean pocket. I turn my head to face Charlie’s big droopy eyes. In return he blankly stares. Our lame staring contest only lasts a few seconds before I roll over to my back and pull out my phone. The only notifications are from Pete’s group chat that I’m never active in. I managed to finish all my homework earlier, so I give in and check the flood of messages. Who decided it was a great idea to name it Look at this Graph, anyways?

pepe: so i’m sitting there  
pepe: barbecue sauce on my titties  
Giraffe: Pete, do you only speak in memes?  
pepe: yea  
Ratatouille: fuck  
Goth Mom: I leave for 2 minutes  
pepe: frank what did u do now  
Ratatouille: nothing  
Shadow the Hedgehog: bet  
Ratatouille: my dog tripped me and i bruised my hip  
Gay picasso: f  
Goth Mom: F  
Shadow the Hedgehog: f  
Giraffe: F  
pepe: d  
Shadow the Hedgehog: i  
Shadow the Hedgehog: c  
Shadow the Hedgehog: k  
pepe: *f  
pepe: mikey no  
Shadow the Hedgehog: mikey yes

I smile to myself as I roll over to my side. Maybe the group chat isn’t as stupid as I thought. 

pepe: trick i see u lurking

Ah shit.

Gay picasso: patrick  
Gay picasso: patrick  
Gay picasso: patrick

I roll my eyes and tap the text box to make the phone keyboard pop up.

pepe: patriiiicccckkkkkkk  
hat trick: bonjour  
Gay picasso: he’s not dead :0  
hat trick: no, i still am  
Shadow the Hedgehog: samw  
pepe: smaw  
hat trick: can anyone here spell?  
Ratatouille: smaw  
Giraffe: No.  
hat trick: thought so

I talked for about 10 minutes to Pete, Mikey, and everyone else until I ended up falling asleep next to Charlie. What felt like a few minutes turned out to be a few hours. My light had been turned off and I had been buried under my comforter. A small yawn escapes me while I reach around blindly in the darkness for my glasses. After knocking five things off my dresser I push them onto my nose and unlock my phone. The group chat finally went quiet after another name change and possibly the worst photoshop Frank’s ever done of the PE teacher as Spiderman. Guess I won’t be sleeping tonight. I tap out of the chat and into Joe and I’s which only shows me what I expected. A wave of concern passes over me so quickly that I immediately start feeling nauseous. _What if something did happen to him?_

My head feeling cloudy again, I text the only person I know who would be awake at this hour. 

hat trick: hey i’m kinda worried about joe  
pepe: me 2  
hat trick: have you talked to him at all?  
pepe: no :/  
hat trick: :/  
hat trick: doesn’t joe go home with andy sometimes?  
pepe: yea??  
hat trick: maybe andy knows somethin?  
pepe: probably,,,we have math together i can ask him  
hat trick: cool thank u  
hat trick: should probably sleep now, gn pete  
pepe: gn <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self edited this time, hope it's still good tho (':


End file.
